Germany’s embattled regulator, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is to get Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) CEO Mark Branson as its new head this summer as part of its makeover.
Regions
UK financial firms to explain IT failure recovery plans by March 2022
By March 31, 2022, financial firms in the UK should be able to explain how fast critical parts of their businesses could recover from IT failures and other operational issues and how they would minimise the impact.
Limited room to reform UK regulatory regime
Following statements by officials and various reports, clues are emerging over the future shape of the UK’s regulatory framework.
FSB to publish recommendations to strengthen money market funds
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) will make recommendations to make money market funds (MMF) more resilient so they do not need public sector support next time markets are in turmoil as happened last March due to the Covid-9 pandemic, said Federal Reserve Board vice chair for supervision and FSB chair, Randal Quarles.
Administrators progress in removal of Ibors from sterling and yen financial products
Efforts towards permanently expunging the tarnished interbank offered rates (Ibor) from the financial system are progressing as they are no longer allowed for some UK cash products, while moves are being made to end their use for euroyen products.
EU and UK agree ‘bare bones’ MoU on financial regulatory co-operation
On March 26, EU and UK officials confirmed that they had agreed the contents for a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on financial services, which should lead to the creation of a Joint UK-EU Financial Regulatory Forum.
Moody’s predicts more consolation among regional banks
The US banking system is likely to see greater concentration in the coming years with Moody’s Investors Service predicting accelerated merger activity among the country’s regional banks as they seek to stay competitive.
Pandemic highlights EU bank resolution framework weaknesses
The EU’s much-criticised bank failure rules are up for re-evaluation. Experts insist the rules are currently unworkable and change is overdue, especially as Europe is poorly prepared for a Covid-19-related banking crisis.
Fed ends SLR exemptions despite bank calls for it to be extended
A temporary change, which allowed banks to exclude holdings of US Treasuries and cash deposits at the US Federal Reserve from the supplementary leverage ratio (SLR) was allowed by regulators to expire on March 31 as scheduled despite industry calls to prolong the exemptions.
Polls suggest some banks will struggle to meet Basel III deadlines
Two surveys reveal mixed progress among banks in meeting deadlines to implement the revised Basel III framework suggesting that some may struggle to be ready on time with FRTB proving to be particularly taxing. By Justin Pugsley
@RiskRegulator
